Jo Haigh, Founder and Chairman of fds, joins Peregrine (part of Atla Group) in The Deep Dive Podcast. Peregrine is one of the leading corporate service providers in the region, providing support from setting up to maintaining and managing companies. The Deep Dive Podcast explores the individual journeys of entrepreneurs, business leaders, experts, government representatives, and its own team.
Jo chats about her drive and motivation, why she studied law and accountancy, and the real reason she started her own business in the 1980s. Jo also provides an insight into non-executive director roles, critical points a company board should be considering, and why constructive review and feedback are important.
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Perhaps you can let us know where you were originally brought up in the schooling years?
I was brought up in Yorkshire and attended Huddersfield Technical College. Sadly, my mother died when I was quite young, and then my father’s business went bust. I think these are seminal moments that change your personality, so it made me very driven, very independent and determined to succeed. I was the first of my family to go to university to study law, and then I went on to qualify.
You mentioned your drive. Was that something you were aware of at that age, or maybe it’s more in hindsight that you look back and realise those circumstances created that drive?
I knew that I never wanted to be in the position where I was when I was a young teenager because of what had happened to my mother and then my dad’s business- I felt out of control, and therefore I was determined that I would always be in charge of my own destiny.
Then you move into working life. Where does that begin?
Well, having been to university and then I trained as a lawyer, I realised it wasn’t boring enough, so I went on to train to be an accountant, and I found that those two skills, being able to speak lawyer and speak accountant, put me in very good stead for a career in the financial sector. I worked originally for a company called Cannon Street Investments, but then I married and had four children, so I didn’t want to work for somebody else where I had no control over my time or my life. I decided to set up my own company.
What were you primarily focused on in the first year of your business?
The aim was to provide finance directors/company secretary legal services to companies who were undertaking a transaction, or who were going through a period of high growth, or in trouble and needed restructuring.
When I set up the business, this was quite an unusual model. The biggest problem I had was finding accountants and lawyers who had a personality, so I started to diversify because I couldn’t find the right people. We started tagging on other offerings like non-executive director services and training, and development for boards. This is how the business grew.
Is public speaking something that was natural to you or something you had to learn yourself?
No, it wasn’t natural at all. In fact, I remember when I started to decide to do this, I actually went on a public speaking course. I still get terrible, terrible stage fright whenever I’m doing it, and even though I speak at well over 100 events a year, I always have this sort of butterflies in my tummy before I stand on stage. I think that’s an important part of being a good speaker, that you don’t take anything for granted.
You’re putting yourself into an uncomfortable position on a constant basis. Do you feel that for anyone in business, they need to do that on a regular basis?
I wouldn’t say to make yourself uncomfortable, but I would say you’ve got to push yourself and your boundaries. I’m always striving to do something different- my idea of a thrill is to come up with a new business idea.
You mentioned building world-class boards. Can you expand on what you do there and how you achieve it?
Building a world-class board is a bit like building a world-class marriage- you have to work at it. You need diversity in all senses, not just age and ethnicity and gender, but thought. You don’t want people who necessarily have the same personality type. Unfortunately, boards are not generally like that- so many of them are of the same genre. There are so many people who aspire to be directors without any understanding of what it means legally, let alone the responsibilities that they have on an individual basis. And then, you have to work at improving it all the time.
What advice do you give for handling people’s egos?
Everybody’s got a certain amount of ego, me included. When considering whether I’m going to work with the board, I have to assess if we share the same values. We all have a certain amount of choice, and I don’t want to work with egomaniacs. I want us to be able to talk honestly and openly, have a row if needed, and then move on.
Do you have key points that you always tell a board to consider?
Well, I’ve already mentioned succession planning. One of the things I say when I first start with the board is “What are the six critical things that you as a company need to achieve this year? Have you got them on the board agenda? Have you assigned responsibility for those tasks?”. If you can get boards to focus on the big critical success factors, then they will have a better-performing company. The other thing I would say is to at least periodically have an external person come and review you as a board and give you some feedback- public companies have to do this per the UK corporate governance code.
Would you recommend this as general, good practice for companies, regardless of whether they are PLC or not?
I think it is good practice. I think for a smaller company, you don’t necessarily have to do it every year. If you’re a public company, you have to every year, and every three years you have to bring in a third party to do it.
What do you expect to see as key roles of an NED?
The main role of a non-executive director is to constructively challenge the executives, to provide contacts, and to mentor and support the CEO. If you’re the chair, you have to be available to help the company keep on track from a planning point of view, particularly in an owner-managed board, to keep them away from operational discussions in the board and focus on strategic targets and make sure that good governance practices are maintained. You should have proper records, a proper agenda, people reporting in and being held accountable, and decisions made.
You mentioned earlier about a book, and you have a number of publications. All available on the fds website. Have you got a particular one that stands out for yourself?
Well, the one I wrote last year, and I usually try and write one a year, the one I wrote last year was How to Become a World-Class Non-Executive Director: The Essential Guide, and that is just flying off the shelves. There is an appetite for portfolio careers, but a lack of understanding of the difference between being a consultant and being a NED, so this is a really practical book.